BUTE’s business leaders are fearful of ferry service cuts to and from the island, claiming any service reduction could have a negative impact.
The chair of the Bute Improvement District (BID) is concerned what may be signalled as a routine maintenance check could develop into larger-scale repairs and take a vessel out for a longer term.
And if there is no standby replacement boat immediately available for cover, the island could suffer.
Duncan Martin takes the analogy of putting your car into the garage. The mechanics discover a problem, which must be repaired. But if there are no replacement parts immediately available, there is an inevitable delay in getting your car back on the road. He fears that could be the same scenario with one of the ferries.
“Cutting services is not the way forward,” he said. “There is always a risk a maintenance job will overrun and the Wednesday reduction could impact into Thursday and beyond.”
Mr Martin told The Isle of Bute News the ferry crews do a great job, but he is alarmed by Caledonian MacBraynemanagement. “I don’t know that they really listen to people on the ground or indeed hear the concerns of businesses.”
A spokeswoman for Caledonian MacBrayne said: “This maintenance work will take place on MV Bute and MV Argyle weekly on a Wednesday afternoon, which will result in a reduction of four returns out of 92 returns a week.”
Bute councillor Reeni Kennedy-Boyle is urging Caledonian MacBrayne to be vigilant on the service impact over the three-month maintenance programme.
“I would urge CalMac to consider two things: begin the evaluation and further consultation before the end of the pilot period to ensure all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide feedback, particularly our educators; and undertake on-board consultation across the commuter sailings both morning and late afternoon.
She said she is concerned that key stakeholders in the public, private and third sectors were not fully aware of the proposals or the consultation process.
“This means that impacts and consequences may not have been fully understood. The Isle of Bute is unique, in that it is commutable, which means that people commute between the island and central belt for work and also into wider Argyll.
“My concern is that anything that makes it more difficult for people who live here to access employment off island could lead to further depopulation; and anything that makes it difficult for people, from off-island, who work in our public sector could lead to the attrition of crucial key workers in education, social and health services.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton said the Scottish Parliament should be recalled to address the crisis engulfing Scotland’s ferry network, with up to eight ferries out of action.
Anas Sarwar has pledged to end what he called the ferry fiasco by effectively scrapping CalMac.
The state-owned company said technical outages remain a significant risk given the age of the fleet, adding demand had increased as services expanded.
CalMac confirmed six major and seven smaller vessels are due to join the fleet between 2025 and 2029, and that should help to reduce cuts and cancellations.
The company said the situation was the most pressing it had faced.
